Lost and found
It was a fantastic weekend for finding long-lost songs: I found two! The first is "The Child in Me" by Philadelphia band Stranger to Stranger (1983-1992). Released in 1985 as a 12-inch single, it became a staple on WHFS, even after its transformation into a corporate station. I've been doing a web search about once a year for it, and was prodded to do it today because I came across their album Casting Shadows on my shelves. So I Googled it, and there it was, on the only Stranger to Stranger page on the Internet, on a website for Rose Parade, the current band of Stranger to Stranger singer Gary Eshbaugh. The instrumental track of "The Child in Me" could pass for a 4A.D. band, but the lyrics are squarely in introspective singer/songwriter territory, Gordon Lightfoot-y maybe; they come together to create a song that is timeless (at least it still holds up 24 years later):
The second long-lost song I reacquired this weekend is "The Way of Life" by The Puppets. This quintessential synthpop song, as dramatic as anything from Depeche Mode, came out on a 12" from Canadian label Quality Records in 1983, and the Puppets were never heard from again. The campus radio station got a copy; my then-girlfriend got a copy; but I never got one, and never managed to find one since. Last night I chanced across Brent S.'s Brave New Waves blog (following a link to an Our Daughter's Wedding EP), saw a lot of good 80s music, and asked him if he had "The Way of Life." Lo and behold, he did, and he posted it for download! Hallelujah! I don't want to steal Brent's traffic, so if you're interested (and you should be), head on over to this post at Brave New Waves. (The download link is in the post title.) [11/8/07: That blog has just gone private, so I've deleted the links. Oh well.] He also posted a picture of the record label; the songwriting credits are for Shaun Brighton and John Cannon. I tracked down Shaun Brighton: he was the leader of CBGB band Nervus Rex, who broke up in 1981. He has apparently retired from music. I couldn't trace John Cannon; do any readers know anything about him?
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